Welcome to Paradise
by Shinigami's Lullaby
Summary: In which Natsume is perverted, Mikan is clueless, and Hotaru wishes she was anywhere but here. After all, that's what friends are for, right? NM


**Disclaimer: **Gakuen Alice isn't mine.

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_**Welcome****  
to ****Paradise**_

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_Good: Bad_

"I'll see you two after class." Jinno glared at a certain crimson-eyed boy and his seatmate before stomping from the room.

"Thanks a lot, Natsume." Mikan groaned, dramatically slapping a hand over her eyes as her brainiac best friend popped up beside her.

Natsume looked down at the seething girl before him. "You should be glad you get to spend a whole two hours with me in detention," he reasoned as he shook his hair from his eyes.

"But only bad kids go to detention!" Mikan harrumphed, pouting childishly.

"Imai, what are you doing here, anyway?" Natsume questioned.

Hotaru's violet eyes glittered as she replied cattily, "I like laughing at your pain."

"I'm the one in pain!" Mikan screeched, latching on to the inventor's arm. "I'm a good girl, a model student!"

Natsume smirked. "You? A model student? Yeah and I'm a good Samaritan."

Hotaru shook Mikan off of her arm. "Yeah, because everyone knows Natsume is a goody two shoes."

"And polka here is the devil incarnate," Natsume responded over his shoulder, standing as the bell for third period rang.

As he strode away, Mikan frowned. "But I'm the good one!"

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_Soft: Harsh_

"You're so cute!" Mikan tugged on Ruka's soft blond hair as he did his best to melt into the floor. "Your cheeks are so pink!" The animal-lover's cheeks darkened into a rather feminine shade of crimson at Mikan's comment. "And your eyes are such a pretty color blue!" Mikan continued to rant on this particular subject as Ruka turned increasingly and increasingly red.

Just when he thought he might explode, Hotaru walked by. "Don't wet your pants, Bunny boy," she deadpanned with a signature click of her camera, before darting off to prey upon another unsuspecting victim.

"Hey, Polka." Mikan jumped at the sound of Natsume's voice. "Not molesting our Ruka, I hope."

"Ha ha, very funny. I was just telling Ruka here how cute he is!" She punctuated each word with a rather painful tug of the aforementioned boy's long blond hair.

Mikan grinned cheekily as she released Ruka's golden locks in favor of a few strands of Natsume's hair. "Your hair is soft too!" she exclaimed happily.

"And your head is hard," he said as he reached forward, flicking her forehead with his index finger and thumb. "Then again, we already knew that."

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_Sweet: Sour_

"I'm going to teach you a game Hotaru, it's so much fun!" Mikan bubbled enthusiastically, dragging her less excited friend away from the Howalon Stand. "It's called Sweet and Sour. You wave at people as they walk by you; if they wave back, they're sweet, and if they don't, they're sour. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Idiots are easy to amuse, I suppose," Hotaru conceded, fiddling with the gadget in her hand.

"Aww, don't be a meanie," Mikan pouted. "Here, let's try it with Tsubasa." She waved madly at her sempai across the road, who waved back, smiling. "Sweet!" she chirped happily.

Mikan dragged Hotaru around Central Town for the next hour.

Yuu. "Sweet!"

Anna. "Sweet!"

Narumi-sensei. "Too Sweet….."

Beginning to tire, the brunette decided to wave at one last person. "I've never gotten all Sweets before," she grinned happily at Hotaru. "This is a new record!"

Hotaru nodded minutely.

"Oh, look, Hotaru, it's Natsume!" Mikan waved happily. The black-haired boy stared her down, only two feet away, and then continued walking.

"Wha-?" Mikan frowned.

"Sour." Hotaru offered, looking up from her invention. Mikan drew a handful of howalons from the box at her side and pelted Natsume as he walked past.

"You're such a stupid sourpuss!" she cried angrily. He smirked at her before continuing on his way. Mikan frowned down at the now dirty howalons at her feet. "That was such a waste," she moaned, "I wanted to eat those!"

"You're such an idiot, idiot." Hotaru spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding Mikan's crying face. After all, crying only made her that much uglier.

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_Clean: Dirty_

Mikan stomped down the halls of Alice Academy, complaining loudly to anyone who would listen, or, in Hotaru's case, pretend to listen. "Have you seen Natsume? He disappeared right before our detention and I had to chase the barf bins around all by myself!"

"Hmm…" Hotaru nodded noncommittally before wandering off in the opposite direction.

The irritated brunette stomped through campus until she came face-to-face with Natsume's door. She knocked loudly. "Natsume! Come out, I know you're in there!"

"Oi, Polka, why are you trying to break down my door?" Mikan turned, shrieked, jumped backwards, and smacked Nastume soundly on the arm.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Natsume grunted quietly at the impact, and Mikan jeered, "Such a baby, tsk tsk!" She looked up into his eyes and noticed detachedly that they seemed to be narrowed in… pain? She took in his slumped stance and the multiple scratches marring his high cheekbones. "Hey, Natsume, are you okay?"

One epiphany later, Mikan gasped loudly, "You're hurt!" She reached up, hands fluttering gently over his wounds before gathering him in a bone-crushing bear hug. Far off in the distance, the click of a camera sounded.

She tugged on his torn sleeve, "You're so dirty, Natsume. You're all scratched up!"

Natsume shrugged off her hands, "Way to state the obvious, Polka."

"Let's get you washed up." Mikan grabbed Natsume by the arm and dragged him into his bathroom.

He swore profusely, completely exhausted, and slumped to the tile floor. Drained, he muttered, "Not everyone needs to be as obsessively clean as you, Polka."

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_Colorful: Dark_

"Look at my socks!" Mikan pulled up the hem of her jeans and stuck her foot in Hotaru's face. "They're so colorful!" The inventor winced away from the vibrant rainbow-dragon pattern, eyes widening as she noted that the words 'Thunder' and 'Babe' spiraled down the sides of the socks.

"Where did you get those?" Yuu questioned; he'd always wanted a pair of rainbow-dragon socks.

"I knit them myself!" Mikan smiled proudly. "Do you want a pair?"

Yuu marveled at Mikan's socks, and then blanched, noting the script down the side. He wasn't much of a 'Thunder Babe' type of guy.

"Oi, Rep." Natsume called from the other side of the room. "Are you ogling Polka's legs?"

"No," Yuu ground out, embarrassed.

Mikan scowled angrily. "You don't have to ruin my super amazing rainbow-dragon socks for the rest of us just because you and your stupid dark hair don't like them!'

"Nobody said they liked your socks." Hotaru smacked Mikan over the head. "Dummy."

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_Small: Strong_

Mikan grunted as she dragged the box of dictionaries down the hall. Since when were dictionaries this heavy? She stopped after less than five feet, hands on her knees. As she waited for her breathing rate to slow, she waved madly at all the people walking down the hallway.

Shoulders squared, she gave herself a mental pep-talk and bent to pick up the box of dictionaries, backside in the air.

"Nobody wants to see that," Natsume offered, stopping as he observed Mikan's rather awkward position.

"See what?" Mikan straightened up, confused.

"Your face," Natsume deadpanned.

"Hey, Natsume?" Mikan asked, ignoring the earlier comment. "Would you help me carry this?" She motioned down at the box of dictionaries.

"Let me think about that." Natsume smirked, "No."

Mikan squawked indignantly. "Stupid!" She took a deep breath and challenged, "I bet you're just not strong enough."

Natsume glared down at her, "Want to bet on that?"

"Umm…." Mikan replied intelligently. Natsume easily lifted the box onto his shoulder and strode down the hallway.

"Wow!" Mikan exclaimed, running to catch up with him. "You're really strong."

"And you're a shrimp." Natsume commented offhandedly. "Not everyone's as small as you."

"Oh yeah?" Mikan replied, "Well better small than fat…..ouch! Hey, what was that for?!"

**tbc**

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**a/n**: This is the lovely joint effort of myself, **Sweetest Wishes** and **Passionfruitsmoothie**. We hope you enjoyed it, please drop us a review and tell us what you thought!

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~SL


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